USA Indoor Hockey Names Squads for Indoor Pan American Cup in Uruguay

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – March 26, 2014 – Men’s Coach Andrew Thornton and Women’s Coach Denise Zelenak have announced the teams they will take to Montevideo, Uruguay to compete in the 2014 Pan American Indoor Cup. The event is an opportunity for the teams to improve their FIH World Indoor rankings and also qualify for the next Indoor World Cup, planned for Leipzig Germany in February 2015.

To prepare, the men’s squad toured Scotland and Germany over the New Year, competed in the Big Apple International Invitational in February and competed in a three match test series against Canada the weekend of March 15 and 16.

“We are looking forward to this tournament and a chance to test ourselves against the best the Pan Ams have to offer,” said Men’s Coach Andy Thornton. “We have a good blend of experience and youth with seven players having played in one or more Indoor Pan Ams and five who represented the U.S. at the last World Cup. If we play to a high level and with a bit of luck, I am confident we can get a good result down in Uruguay.”

The Women’s squad has been training periodically throughout the year. They hosted Canada for a test series in August 2013, toured Germany in January, competed in the Big Apple and also participated in the test series against Canada in March. The team will continue to train through the week of departure.

“This is going to be a very competitive event, with all of the other Nations participating having already competed in at least one World Cup,” said Women’s Coach Denise Zelenak. “We are very excited with the progress of our team in the last three years. The result is having a Pan Am team that is fast, dynamic, skilled and unified. So proud to be taking such a strong and committed group of athletes, who are eager for the opportunity to compete for the Pan Am Indoor Cup, as well as, our ultimate goal of a first appearance at the Indoor World Cup.”

Countries participating in the Pan American Indoor Cup are Argentina, Canada, Guyana (Men only), Uruguay and the United States.